Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis 1904

The back of a cover often contains a wealth of information about the route the cover took. In this case, the only way to date the cover is to study the postmarks on the back.

The dealer carelessly scribbled his notes into the Dresden, Germany receiving mark on the back, which to me is a key part of the cover. A collector may indeed want to display the back of a cover or photocopies of the receiving markings to tell its complete story. There is never any need to write on a cover, front or back. Put a label on the cover sleeve.

On this 1904 cover the 3c Monroe was used to "uprate" a 2c stamped envelope to pay the 5c overseas
rate from Boston, Massachusetts to Milan, Italy. There is a "Milano" receiving mark on the back.



An "ESSEX STREET STATION" flag cancel ties the stamp to the cover.

I really like the 2 cent red embossed stamp. Postal stationary of that era has some great artwork. Were there stamp dealers on Essex street? For some reason I was thinking there was.

Hmm, I am not sure. You might be right. Maybe Pat Hearst mentioned in one of his books that there were stamp dealers on Essex street in Boston?

This registered cover shows the intended solo use of the 10c map stamp for the payment
of the 2c letter rate plus the 8c registry fee. It is a business reply envelope sent from
Loudenville, Ohio in May, 1904 to the Van Scoy Chemical Co. in Mansfield, Ohio.





I can't find any information on the Van Scoy Chemical Company of Mansfield, Ohio, which
were "Wholesale Manufacturers of High Grade Flavoring Extracts, Perfumes, Medical
Preparations, etc." Maybe they weren't in business very long or perhaps they did not
fare well after passage of The Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906.

Recent posts about the 1904 Worlds Fair St Louis got me to wondering. I used be a visiting nurse for a lady who said her parents were crowned King and Queen of the 1904 Worlds Fair. She had the most elegant cabinet which housed the crowns and even the dinner ware the King and Queen ate off of! She has long since passed away, but Everything I see about the Fair never mentions a King and Queen of the festivities. Has Anyone seen any info on it?? (a King and Queen that is)

Thanks for helping!
Gussyboy1

Ask here Gussyboy,
http://www.1904worldsfairsociety.org/

post back with any info please :)

Thanks Rod222! I sent the question to the Worlds Fair Society and the Missouri History Library. They may even be interested in locating the King and Queen Crowns, etc from the fair. Will keep ya posted!
Thanks again!
Gussyboy1

Thanks Gussyboy,
may I add, your picture postcards of the early American West
are simply fabulous, some of the best I have ever seen,
I wonder if you would allow me to keep some images?
esp the cowboy ones.
I have one of the Indian scout that worked at
the Little Big Horn ("white-man-runs-him")
which is signed by a thumbprint.
It belongs to the US painter Mr. Tom Loepp but
he no longer corresponds to stamp newsgroups.
He had some glorious stamp ephemera including some "Sydney Views".
Cheers

Here is a 1904 cover mailed at the dawn of the age of automobiles, traveling from Stockton to San Francisco, California, franked with a 2c Jefferson Louisiana Purchase stamp. The advertising cachet features a photograph of the good people at the Sunset Carriage Factory in Stockton: "Dealers in New and Second-Hand Wagons, Buggies, Carts, and Harness; Horses, Hay". I wonder if they kept up the the times and moved into repairing horseless carriages.

T360: from someone who lukes in the archives I would like to say we don't hear enough from you. There are just oodles of informative threads you have placed in there in earlier days.

Apparently the Sunset Carriage Factory adapted into making truck bodies, according to this 1913 newspaper article:

One of the earlier posts in this thread inquired about the Van Scoy Chemical Company:




Although that question dates back more than a year ago, since T360 posted it, I thought I'd provide this 1921 newspaper article about that company that at least documents that they were in business well into the 1920's:

If you want me to go back as far as the 2009 post showing a cover from Boston to Italy, with a return address of C.A. Spencer, 183 Essex Street, Boston, here's documentation as to the company, who was an "importer and dealer in tanning materials". Seems as though it was kind of an unusual business to be in for Boston:

One from my expo cancels